App store downloads blast through 40 billion

These days, people certainly have a voracious appetite for Apple apps. They just keep downloading and downloading. In fact, downloads have just surpassed the 40 billion mark since the launch of the App Store in July 2008.

It was less than a year ago, back in February 2012 that the App Store was about to celebrate reaching the 25 billion downloads milestone. With the record breaking number of downloads in December exceeding 2 billion it’s easy to see where the trend is going and how fast!

While not every single app is destined to be a hit, some developers are seeing revenues and numbers, which to some, might seem mind-boggling.

According to Apple, Backflip Studios and Supercell, two emerging game development studios, brought in over $100 million combined for their leading freemium (free and premium) titles DragonVale and Clash of Clans. Emerging services apps including Uber, Flipboard, HotelTonight, and AirBnB have attracted millions of users on iOS.

In 2012, Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckyanova, the husband and wife co-founders at Imangi Studios, saw their game Temple Run downloaded more than 75 million times during the last year.

“The success of our game Temple Run in 2012 was nothing short of astonishing,” said Shepherd. “We were simply looking to create a game that was fun and easy to play, but once it hit the App Store, the game took off.”

The App Store now boasts over 500 million active accounts with over 775,000 apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users including more than 300,000 apps native apps available for iPad.